从摩梭人的词汇看人类概念的发展

ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF HUMAN CONCEPT FROM LEXICOLOGY OF MOSUOS

通过调查摩梭人的词汇研究人类概念的发展。摩梭人到本世纪七十年代还盛行母系家 庭，至今没有文字。调查方法是从小学汉语文课本中选出一批常用词汇，把当地摩梭和汉两种 语文水平最高的几个知识分子请到一起，逐词逐字地共同讨论，核实提供调查的词汇在摩梭 语中是否有对应词。不论有无对应词均以全体同意为准。结果表明，摩梭人词汇数量较少，范 围较窄，概括和具体化的程度都不高。作者认为，由摩梭词汇标志的概念发展状况，可作人类 概念发展早期的一个例证。

This essay, through investigating on the lexicology of Mosuo people, probed into the development of the concept of human beings. Mosuo people carried out matriarchal society until 1970's, not having its own written lan- guage. The author selected a lot of common Han words from Chinese textbooks used in primary schools, then discussed these words with local intellectuals who are the authorities on both Mosuo and Han languages. They ascertained whether these words have corresponding words in Mosuo language. The conclusion was based on agreement. The results showed that Mosuo language had relatively limitted vocabulary, and its generalization and specialization are not high. The author considered that the development of concept of Mosuo lexicology can be taken as evidence for the early development of human concept.